Various surgical procedures are routinely carried out intravascularly or intraluminally. For example, in the treatment of vascular disease, such as arteriosclerosis, it is a common practice to invade the artery and insert an instrument (e.g., a balloon or other type of catheter) to carry out a procedure within the artery. Such procedures usually involve the percutaneous puncture of the artery so that an insertion sheath can be placed in the artery and thereafter instruments (e.g., catheter) can pass through the sheath and to an operative position within the artery. Intravascular and intraluminal procedures unavoidably present the problem of stopping the bleeding at the percutaneous puncture after the procedure has been completed and after the instruments (and any insertion sheaths used therewith) have been removed. Bleeding from puncture sites, particularly in the case of femoral arterial punctures, is typically stopped by utilizing vascular closure devices, such as those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,090,130 and 6,045,569, which are hereby incorporated in their entireties by this reference.
Typical closure devices such as the ones described in the above-mentioned patents place a sealing plug at the tissue puncture site. Successful deployment of the sealing plug includes ejection from within the closure device sheath to a location in alignment with and adjacent to the tissue puncture along an outer surface of the vessel. Misalignment of the sealing plug relative to the tissue puncture may result in improper sealing of the tissue puncture. Failure to contact the sealing plug against the outer surface of the vessel can also result in an improper seal.
In extra vascular devices there is no intravascular component used to create a compressive sealing force between the inner wall of the artery and the exterior device. Without an opposite applied force from within the vessel, it may be difficult to place the sealing plug in alignment with the tissue puncture and obtain a proper seal. Some extra vascular devices use staples and resorbable components to seal a tissue puncture but do not utilize a compressive force to press the sealing plug against the tissue puncture since there is no opposing structure inside of the artery against which to apply the compressive force. Staples may be used to stab into the tissue adjacent to the tissue puncture to hold the sealing plug in place. Other types of devices use resorbable components such as collagen plugs that use the radial force of the collagen as it swells to hold the sealing plug in place adjacent to the tissue puncture. Such devices have proven to be less effective in placing a sealing plug adjacent to a tissue puncture and maintaining the sealing plug to provide a proper seal.